Heretofore, individuals and businesses have used a wide variety of devices for scanning, printing, faxing, and copying media. Although these devices were originally created and designed for non-portable office use, the consumer drive towards lower cost, smaller size, multiple use personal devices, as well as the increased use of wireless technology, has created a greater demand for compact portable devices capable of performing one or more of the aforementioned functions.
It is well known that both portable and non-portable electronic devices exist for performing dedicated functions such as faxing, scanning, printing, and copying media. Combination devices, which are capable of performing two or more of these functions, are also commercially available. However, the majority of these non-portable devices are designed for use in an office “desktop” environment. As such, these devices are not optimized for stability, small size, low power usage, “on-the-go” convenience.
The following references, which are discussed below, were found to relate to the field of portable electronic devices having scanning, printing, faxing, and/or copying functions: Tsukamoto et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,886,795 (“Tsukamoto”), Aihara et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,634 (“Aihara”), Petteruti et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,844 (“Petteruti”), Tuli U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,469 (“the '469 patent”), Tuli U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,697 (“the '697 patent”), and Tuli U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,242 (“the '242 patent”).
Tsukamoto describes a facsimile apparatus that enables manual manipulation of one or more sheets of recording media while the apparatus is performing a faxing function. Tsukamoto discloses a device that allows a user to hold the communication line during manual manipulation of the recording media such that a discontinuous feed of such media does not cause an error in the facsimile communication.
Aihara also discloses a facsimile apparatus. This apparatus is intended for portable use and allows image data intended for facsimile transmission to be displayed on an integral liquid crystal display (“LCD”). Furthermore, the apparatus disclosed in Aihara allows a user to selectively edit the image data intended for facsimile transmission, thereby allowing the user to transmit only the necessary or desired portion of the image data.
Petteruti discloses a portable printer capable of printing data on either pre-cut paper or rolls of paper. The apparatus disclosed in Petteruti also includes an automatic print alignment technique that allows the device to print on print media having varying widths.
The '469 patent discloses a portable device for performing scanning, printing, faxing, and copying functions. The device is compact and has fold out stability arms, without which the device is unstable in its upright operating mode. Both the printing and scanning functions rely on a single roller mechanism for handling the recording and original media, respectively. The single roller transports the original and recording media through the device independently or simultaneously, as required by the user.
The '697 patent also discloses a portable device for performing scanning, printing, faxing, and copying functions. The disclosed device includes a thermal print head, wherein the thermal print head and the scan head are located on opposite sides of a single roller mechanism. Similar to the device disclosed in the '469 patent as discussed above, both the printing and scanning functions rely on a single roller mechanism for handling the recording and original media, respectively. Also, the single roller transports the original and recording media through the device independently or simultaneously, as required by the user.
Similar to the '697 patent, the '242 patent also discloses a portable device that incorporates a thermal print head and is capable of performing scanning, printing, faxing, and copying functions. This patent further discloses an arrangement of narrow thermal print heads for use with wide format thermal printers.
In light of the prior art, a portion of which is discussed above, there exists a clear need for a lightweight, aesthetic, ergonomic, inexpensive, stable, user-friendly, multi-communication protocol, low power consumption, portable device capable of efficiently and quickly performing independent and simultaneous scanning, printing, faxing, and true copying functions without a proclivity for paper jams.
In addition, a need exists for a portable device capable of performing independent scanning, printing, faxing, and copying functions that allows both the original and recording media to be input on the same side of the device without obstructing the device's user friendly user interface.
Further, it would be desirable to achieve a portable device capable of performing independent scanning, printing, faxing, and copying functions that is also designed to optimize battery life.
Furthermore, a need exists for a portable device capable of performing independent scanning, printing, faxing, and copying functions via two completely independent paper feeds, in lieu of a single paper feed, to allow separate functions to be performed simultaneously, rather than relying on a first function to complete in order to “free up” a single paper feed.
In addition, it would be useful to obtain a portable device capable of performing scanning, printing, faxing, and copying functions that performs a true copy function in lieu of simulating a copying function by first scanning the document to be copied to memory, and, second, printing the data stored in memory.
Also, a need exists for a portable device for scanning, printing, faxing, and copying that is inherently stable despite its small weight and size, and is not difficult to use or prone to breakage and paper jams.
Further, there is a requirement in the art for portable devices for scanning, printing, faxing, and copying that have full compatibility with all existing communication standards including, but not limited to, RS-232, 802.11, Universal Serial Bus (“USB”), Infrared Data Association® (“IrDA®”), Bluetooth®, General Packet Radio Service (“GPRS”), Ethernet, and Ultra Wide Band (“UWB”), thereby rendering these devices compatible with any external electronic device communicating via these commonly known and used communication protocols.
Finally, a need exists for portable devices for scanning, printing, copying, and faxing that do not require manual configuration of integral communication ports, thereby enabling unsophisticated users to obtain ease of operation and user-friendliness.
Thus, in light of the prior art discussed herein, there is a clear need for an improved portable, multi-function, personal electronic device. More specifically, a need exists for a compact, lightweight, structurally stable, energy efficient, aesthetic, ergonomic, inexpensive, user-friendly, multi-communication protocol, and portable electronic device that provides multiple functions such as faxing, scanning, printing, and/or copying media.